PH Show: Ariel Atom Mugen
Ariel's extreme limited edition Atom Mugen hits reality
It's been unveiled at our very own PistonHeads performance car show at the NEC, and a strictly limited run of 10 examples are being created to celebrate a decade of the epically minimalist Atom.
Intended as the ultimate track-focused Atom, the Mugen will use the K20Z engine from the Honda Civic Type R, but tweaked by both Mugen and Ariel to produce a normally aspirated 270bhp - a fair bit when you consider that Ariel's own supercharged version officially puts out only 30bhp more.
Each car will feature the same distinctive livery, and will be fitted with a plaque signed by the Mugen and Ariel technicians responsible for the build of the car.
"We found that both ourselves and Mugen had the same meticulous attention to detail in the build of our cars and their engines." says Simon Saunders, director of Ariel. "One Ariel technician makes a car, one Mugen technician builds an engine. The result is a truly hand made car with a hand made engine."
The headline performance figures are a top speed of 155mph and 0-60mph in just 2.9secs, which puts the Atom Mugen slap bang between the naturally aspirated 245 and the supercharged 300 models. If you fancy it, one of the 10 cars could be in your garage for a whisker under £50k (if a whisker is £260)...
Not that I'm in any position to buy one, but the Atom is one of my favorite modern sports cars; it makes an Exige or even a Radical seem luxurious by comparison!
That said, that's a fairly steep price!
There are quite a number of these popping up in the 'States. One owner told me Ariel have a factory here in Virginia, anybody know if that's true?
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